Incentives to get oldies back to work

Training and support incentives for employers will be extended as part of the federal government’s $43 million program to get more older people back to work.

The measures, which Employment Participation Minister
Kate Ellis
announced yesterday, include a payment to employers of $4950 for training workers over the age of 50.

Separately, the federal Coalition called for an overhaul of the skilled migration program as part of a wider plan to address skills shortages in growth industries.

Coalition immigration spokesman
Scott Morrison
criticised the federal government for slowing down the processing of skilled 457 visas, blaming the problem on an agreement with unions that made it too hard for companies to get new workers.

Citing concerns at
Transfield Ser­vices
and
Leighton Holdings
, Mr Morrison said the approval ­system needed to be liberalised so em­ployers could hire skilled workers. “Many businesses simply give up or no longer bother when it comes to accessing 457s and turn to more informal temporary labour," he told the National Press Club yesterday.

“We need to revisit more liberalised access to 457s for trades and semi-skilled occupations and look to reinstate the regional concessions Labor abolished."

The liberalisation could be targeted at small business or in regions with the greatest shortages, such as Western Australia.

Mr Morrison pointed to government figures that showed a 65 per cent fall in the number of 457 visas granted to tradespeople and related workers in the past three years.

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The biggest falls in 457 visa approvals were in the growth states of Queensland and Western Australia, he said.

Incentives for employers, such as those the government announced yesterday, are expected to feature heavily in the budget in May in an effort to attract the 2 million Australians Prime Minister Julia Gillard identified in January as being out of the labour market.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said yesterday the government would establish an advisory panel on the economic potential of senior Australians.

Older workers, whom the government defines as over 45, are projected to provide up to 85 per cent of workforce growth in the next decade, according to research by the Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In February, 264,000 older workers in part-time jobs wanted to work longer hours, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.

Tony Smart, 51, has been looking for work for several months, after moving from Adelaide to Melbourne.

He has 30 years experience working in procurement in the defence industry but says conditions are tough in the industry and have made finding a job hard.

“When I look for work in other industries, they often look at me and question why I would want to start again in a new industry at my age even though I have transferable skills, or they think I am overqualified," he said. “I think age really can come into it."

Heidi Holmes, the managing director of online job board Adage.com which specifically targets older people, said many employers still had prejudices against mature workers.